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2018 will be a year of major transition for Toronto

If nothing else, 2018 promises to be an interesting year; but we all know what the Chinese say about interesting times. When it’s over, Toronto will be a city transformed.

The change will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6, with the opening of the skating track at the Bentway, the very 21st-century civic amenity that runs beneath the Gardiner Expressway for 1.75 kilometres between Strachan and Spadina. It was kicked off in 2015 when Toronto philanthropists Judy and Will Matthews donated $25 million to start the project. The Bentway represents Toronto’s new appreciation of public space. Expectations are understandably high. The designers — Ken Greenberg and Public Works — have done great work. Our only question is why a global design competition wasn’t held.

The Bentway skating track will open Jan. 6 under the Gardiner and span 1.75 kilometres between Strachan and Spadina. (Eduardo Lima / Metro News)

Speaking of the public realm, in May the Re-Imagining Yonge Street report will be released. It will recommend how the stretch of Toronto’s most famous thoroughfare should be remade between Sheppard and Finch. Developed during Mel Lastman’s tenure as mayor of North York, it was intended to be a second downtown but ended up an unresolved gaggle of office towers and residential highrises each constructed in defiance of its neighbours, not a place you’d choose to take a walk. Local councillor John Filion wants to change that and reintroduce pedestrians into the equation. As he points out, most of us would rather live next to a main street than a highway. No doubt; but until now, many Torontonians didn’t have a choice.

The addition of three new city councillors — all from downtown — could have a big impact on civic politics. Since 1998, when then premier Mike Harris forcibly amalgamated Toronto and its surrounding suburbs, the “old” city has been under-represented on council. Little wonder nine of 12 members of the executive committee are from the suburbs. The new councillors could redress this imbalance, and perhaps change a civic culture that has become increasingly polarized along suburban/urban lines. The most obvious examples are the $3.55-billion Scarborough Subway Extension and the $1.5-billion expansion of the east end of the Gardiner Expressway.

How exciting, then, that in October, Torontonians will vote for the newly enlarged 47-member council. Many will be curious to see whether the electorate remembers those two councillors — Giorgio Mammoliti and Justin Di Ciano of Etobicoke — who whined all the way to the Ontario Municipal Board about changes intended to make Toronto more democratic. Di Ciano, who led the charge against ranked ballots, now wants to take OMB to court.

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And who could forget that come July, pot, or as we prefer, cannabis, will be legal in Toronto and the rest of the country? Legalization was intended to help bring Canada out of the Dark Ages and rid us of the cost — human and economic — of such antiquated laws. While politicians bicker over who will get what share of the massive marijuana market, police say legalized pot laws will cost more to enforce than did illegal pot. Go figure.

Speaking of cops, the brain (dead) trust of the Toronto Police Service sparked outrage last year when it cracked down on parking enforcement officer Kyle Ashley. Using Twitter to name and shame offenders, the city’s favourite cop apparently fell afoul of his bubble-dwelling bosses for the enthusiasm with which he served and protected. Clearly, Ashley forgot that Toronto police reserve the right to choose which laws to take seriously and which to ignore.

Finally, there’s NAFTA, now being renegotiated by Canada, Mexico and the US. When even Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland admits talks have been “troubling,” it’s pretty clear that things aren’t going well. At this point, the world knows that whenever U.S. President Donald Trump is involved, disaster can’t be far away. According to Jerry Dias, president of Canada’s largest private sector union, Unifor, NAFTA “is going to blow up in 2018.”

For many Canadians, that’s a scary scenario. Then again, that was the case when the agreement came into effect in 1994. As Freeland has also pointed out, however, “Canada is kind of like the girl next door. It’s easy to take us for granted.”

Trump isn’t the first U.S. president to fall into that trap; but none of his predecessors have managed to make Canada look so good in the process. For all the pain the demise of NAFTA would cause in the short run; long term, like the girl next door, it could be best thing ever, for Canada and Canadians.

Correction: Jan. 2, 2018: This article was updated from a previous version that mistakenly said the Bentway runs between Bathhurst and Spadina. In fact, it runs from Strachan to Spadina.

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